Verbal Skills

Remember that communicating is not only about using words to speak. It includes your child’s desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally.

During the first years of life, children’s brains are developing rapidly and laying the foundation for learning. The interactions that children have with adults influence how children develop and learn. As a result, early childhood educators play a key role in providing children with interactions that can support their growth and development, particularly their language and communication skills.

Although the first year is really important for language development in children, major learning continues throughout a child’s early years onwards, as learning language is a lifelong process.

As your child grows, he will gradually build a repertoire of words and directions that he hears around him and try to use them to express his needs and feelings. Although your child might not be saying much in his early years, he can still understand a lot of what is going on around him.
Remember that communicating is not only about using words to speak. It includes your child’s desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally.

At this age, your 2 year old not only understands most of what you say to him, but also speaks with a rapidly growing vocabulary. Throughout this year, he will progress from two- or three-word sentences such as “drink water” to simple five- to six word sentences such as “Where’s the ball, Mommy?” He will also start to use pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and understand the concept of “mine”.

Activities that can help in your 2 year old’s Verbal skill development:

• Sing simple songs and recite nursery rhymes to show the rhythm and pattern of speech. Encourage him to participate and sing along.
• Place familiar objects in a container. Ask your child choose an object, name it and tell you how to use it. For example, “This is my ball. I bounce it.”
• Use photographs of familiar people or of a memorable outing, and retell what happened or make up a new story.
• Name body parts, and identify what you do with them. “This is my nose. I can smell flowers, perfume and soap.”